The Bowling Green Falcons have found their newest head coach in Michael Huger, a BGSU alumnus in the class of 1994. There will be a press conference Friday at noon inside the Stroh Center to introduce Huger.
"I couldn't be more excited about bringing Michael and Tonya back to Bowling Green," Kingston said. "Michael led this program as a player and team captain, and is the best prepared coach to lead this program to new heights. This team, this University and this community just got better." (per BGSU Athletics' press release)
Huger played at BGSU from 1989-93, but was most recently an assistant coach for the Miami Hurricanes, who made it to the NIT Championship game this past season. Spending four years there, where he's been able to help coach a team that clinched a No. 2 seed and made it to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament in 2012-13, after already winning ACC regular season and tournament championships. The following year, Miami went 17-16 the following year after losing all five starters. Huger's first year in Miami was in 2011, and they finished fourth in the ACC standings after winning nine in-conference match-ups.
Four years at Miami were preceded by four at George Mason. The Patriots were always included in postseason play, including making it to the NCAA Tournament in 2008 and 2011. In all eight years at Miami and George Mason, Huger coached under Jim Larranaga, his head coach from BGSU.
But the coaching roots all began at Longwood University in Virginia as an assistant under Mike Gillian, who also coached under Larranaga.
"It is a privilege and honor to be welcomed back home, building on the legacy at Bowling Green which began for me as a student-athlete and now as the Head Coach," Huger commented. "Bowling Green has always been a very special place for me and my family, as this is where I met my wife, Tonya. We are going to play a fun and exciting style of basketball. Our entire program will be out in the community. We will bring in high character student-athletes who will represent Bowling Green the right way. I want to create a home court advantage in the Stroh Center every single game like we had at Anderson Arena. We are BG!" (per BGSU Athletics)
After playing collegiately, Huger played professionally in Finland, Holland and Belgium from 1992-2005. He was the BGSU team MVP his senior season, was the Dutch MVP in 1996 scoring 25.3 points per game and earned first team All-Belgium honors in 2000 and 2004. He led his teams to the Belgium Cup championships in both of those seasons.
Huger is a New York City native and holds a bachelor's degree from BGSU in education.